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Sunday, May 27, 2012

Women on the rise in Mexican drug cartels

Pictures of victims of violence are hung on the facades and walls of houses in the neighbourhood of Cerro Gordo in Ecatepec, outside Mexico City March 7, 2012. The Murrieta Foundation opened an exhibition called "Giving face to the victims in Ecatepec" with 15 giant photographs placed in different facades and walls of the houses as part a campaign against violence (rape of women, kidnappings, murders and robberies) in Ecatepec.

Photograph by: HENRY ROMERO , Reuters

AFP

The high mortality rate in Mexico’s drug war has seen women progress quickly in the shadowy underworld of the cartels and they are increasingly taking on key management roles, a new book says.

"Female Bosses of Narco-Traffic," by Arturo Santamaria, a researcher at the Autonomous University of the State of Sinaloa, traces the ascent of women in drug trafficking organizations.

"The narco-traffickers will become stronger as a result of this," wrote Santamaria. "They will be more difficult to fight because the women appear to be acting smarter."

An estimated 50,000 people have been killed since 2006 in a government crackdown on organized crime that has set off turf wars among rival groups even as they fight off the Mexican military’s counter-narcotics units.

Santamaria said the dead have been mainly males belonging to the cartels, which has led to a changing of the guard with younger men and women rising to the top of drug trafficking organizations.

"Widows, daughters, lovers and girlfriends of the men, who are part of the same criminal families," have had to lend a hand, he said.

Interviews with researchers and journalists reproduced in the book tell their story.

"After they killed my father, my brother remained," recalls one of these women. "But he was gunned down in the most recent shootout, and now I have taken the reins."

In the northwestern state of Sinaloa, Mexico’s main poppy and marijuana producing region and home to leading drug lords, many young women grew up around the business.

"They absorbed it from the time they were girls. They know what it is and how it works," said Santamaria.

Women were initially recruited into the business to extract juice from poppy, a delicate process requiring gentle handling.

"After that, they started transporting drugs, laundering money and engaging in so-called narco-diplomacy," using their charms to corrupt government or police officials, said Santamaria.

"Later, they started getting involved in operations," he said.

They learned how to manage people, run operations and move money, skills that ultimately prepared them to take over entire operations.

As of October last year, 46 female cartel leaders have been arrested by Mexican authorities, according to the country’s attorney general’s office.

In the United States, 2,143 Mexican women have been arrested over the past decade for involvement in drug trafficking.

Santamaria said women act with more caution and use deadly force more sparingly than men.

"Maybe this is because they are mothers and have children," argued the researcher, while cautioning that younger women were apt to be as bloodthirsty as men.

Zetas, the dominant cartel in western Mexico, has recruited women as hired killers more actively than other cartels. Unlike the Sinaloa cartel, which prefers to stick within known families, the Zetas hire all over the country.

Manuel Clouthier, a businessman and politician from Sinaloa, said he believed women in the drug trafficking business were more responsible, more loyal and, therefore, more effective.

And he warned that the rise of women augurs ill for the war on drugs.

"It used to be that mothers told their sons and husbands to leave the business or not get involved in it," said Clouthier. "But if the mother is the one who is already involved, she’s not likely to be the one to tell a son: Don’t get involved!"

I'm a mexican -american living in Texas, you know they're going to say is the fault of the USA because of the freedoms we enjoy and they don't. Or it is our fault because we used the most of drugs in the world and they're desperate because they can't get any. It is everyone else's fault but theirs.

Yeah EVERY Mexican is like that! Fucking study people, study!! And you, you're not one bit Mexican anymore Pinche pocho, yeah mexico blames everybody else for their problems right? Like fast and furious, the protection of certain wanted criminals for information...open your eyes you fucking idiot, its the whole world...not just the u.s. and Mexico. Study. Please.

....We as a people are effected by other people, our environment, even animals, especially pets, mimic their masters...

....HATE GENERATES MORE HATE....

....HOLLY WOOD PRODUCES FUTURISTIC MOVES ABOUT HOW OUR WORLD WILL LOOK IN A GOD=LESS SOCIETY, WITHOUT LOVE, HONOR, INTRIGITY, RESPECT, FOR HUMAN LIFE, AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE...

....MANKIND HAS BEEN GIVEN FREEWILL FROM GOD, AND THEY FREELY CHOICE TO DESTROY THE EARTH, THE PEOPLE AND EVERYTHING IN ITS PATH...

....MANKIND PROVES TO HIMSELF AND THE WORLD, THAT THEY CAN NOT GOVERN THEMSELVES, MUCH-LESS THE WORLD. FOR MANKIND IS WEAK, VICIOUS ANIMAL THAT SEEKS OUT IT'S PREY...

....WE ARE THE PRODUCT OF OUR ENVIRONMENT, AND THE SPEW OF HATE IS EVERYWHERE...

....PEOPLE THINK THAT BEING A HATEFUL, DEPRAVED HUMAN BEING IS STRENGTH, AND MORE POWERFUL, BUT IN TRUTH THE VERY NATURE OF (MANKIND)-- THE SPIRITUAL--- HUMAN BEING-- IS TO LOVE AND HONOR AND THAT IS A STRONG MAN OR WOMAN,...... BUT MAN IS LOST, AND HAS LOST HIS WAY IN HIS IGNORANCE IN THINKING THAT HE IS SEPARATE OR APART FROM ANOTHER...

....THE SIMPLE TRUTH, IF YOU HURT OTHERS, YOU ULTIMATELY HURT YOURSELF, BECAUSE WE ARE ALL INTERCONNECT WITH EACH OTHER, AND WE AS A WHOLE PAY FOR THE MIS-GIVINGS OF OTHERS....

U.S. supplies weapon and money, Mexico the drugs. And it is not all of Mexico who does this to the women. It is like saying all of the U.S. kills innocent civilians and invades countries for their own sole purpose, which in turn are selfish acts and not the benefits of others.

Thank you, finally a comment with intelligence. Every place has its positives and negatives...its like saying every American is a psycho serial killer or an anti patriotism idealist who will blow up a building in their own country...or like saying every North Korean is the same...oh wait...theres the exception. Haha

Don"t leave out Grandpa,and the kids, its a family affair in Mexico, Narco a Go Go. I hear all the excuses,about how people are forced to be criminals,BUT what about all the other poor people( the majority I hope) that Work in the legitimate world and are victimized by the criminals as well??? The poor me, liberal Excuse Argument flies right out the window.

9:19 there you go blaming fast and furious,when a gun hardly beheads a person, Mexico is to blame, It's not like we didn't get drugs in the 80's but the violence to innocent people wasn't as bad. But then again the Aztecs killed their strongest men to the gods beheaded them all,so it must be in the blood.

Saturday Outside of Detroit, a woman, 9mos pregnant, is abducted, set on fire and shot. F'ed up shit happens everywhere, no matter what country u r from. Or maybe the guy that did that is Mexican with Aztec ancestors.

May 27, 2012 5:59 PM "I'm a mexican -american living in Texas"Saludos to you senore,fuck the haters.You see with your common sense like a lot of us.You are probably more Mexican than a lot of the haters,because you see where fault is and it hurts you.Unlike some of these posters,who want to bring total negativity into this conversation.Negativity,that has absolutely no bearing on the situation or the events that are happening.Saludos hermano.

Women in as well as running Drug gangs isn't something new. The Columbiancartels have female "jeffes" for years: case in point "Grizelda Blanco",,! She was probably the most ruthless behind Escobar and his crew and she did less time than anyone and is backin Columbia with millions.

hang on buddy me as mexican respect my roots to the aztecs .but to its in our blood to decapitate because our ancestors did it. well heres something for you to think about can you say jeffery dahmer and check the report on him

His name was Errol Linsey, aged 19 years. April 7th 1991. Method: Errol was tempted into Dahmers lair, by being offered money to pose naked. He was then strangled. Disposal: Dahmer had oral sex with the corpse before dismembering it. He kept the skull as a trophy.

see these crazy mexican ''aztecs'' might might throw heads and bodies around to make a point.they throw the heads not suck on them but wait a minute that might just come from thier roots .lol gotta love america

Nice example...one example of similar violence occurring in America...20 years plus ago. Come on man, there is no comparison between the types of violence in the USA vs. Mexico. I love Mexico, but it's ridiculous that people don't fess up to the disease that is killing a once beautiful country. When monsters like Dahmer appear in the USA people write books and make movies about them. The fact that there are so many people in Mexico willing to go to such extremes in regard to violent inhuman behavior is shocking. The response should be shame and anger, not finger pointing. Come on...

~ I wish to thank the writers of Borderland Beat for this type news story coverage--muchas gracias señores.

~ I would also ask that you somehow do coverage of women, men and children who have been interviewed who speak candidly of HOW the drug & mafia wars (along with other criminals busy destroying human life WHO HAVE BETRAYED MEXICO, the Blood for Cash W.H.O.R.E.S) have Affected Their Lives some of whom have lost loved ones or even were threatened by such Wicked Mean-spirited 'Representatives of SATAN'. So, yes, Let the Victims share their stories with us.